WORLD OCEAN DAY 2025~Bay Center-WA

I woke up with a stuffy nose and a headache, and thought, "I need some fresh air" - but I'm tired of just driving 5 minutes down the road to watch waves": I wanted new scenery to see.

Then I recalled a snippet of convo we discussed with David, when he was here, yesterday.

And today is also World Ocean Day 2025: The theme for World Oceans Day 2025 is "Wonder: Sustaining What Sustains Us". This theme highlights the ocean's ability to inspire wonder and awe, encouraging curiosity, scientific knowledge, exploration, and innovation. It also emphasizes the ocean's vital role in sustaining us, both materially (food, energy, trade) and emotionally.

I decided to drive to Bay Center-WA 😊

It's a nice drive too, to get there 👌

Today, would be a nice Sunday Drive Day; the day is beautiful - nice & warm, sunny 🌞, clear blue skies without a cloud seen anywhere. A perfect day to be out and about.

There isn't a whole lot to see in Bay Center - this daytrip would basically be just a trip down memory lane, spurred on by a mention during yesterday's visitation convo; I suspected that Holland had never been there, so I asked him if he'd like to tag along … and he did 🕊️

Looking forward to today's jaunt ;-)

It's a beautiful day here, in Ocean Park-WA

Bay Center-WA from Ocean Park-WA; 56 min (43.3 mi) via Sandridge Rd and US-101 N

Ocean Park-WA & Bay Center-WA locations.

Coming up on Bay Center-WA

Bay Center-WA Info:  (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_Center,_Washington & https://pacificcountyedc.org/our-communities/bay-center-nemah/)

Bay Center-WA fishing boat.

Maybe a 10 minute drive, to circle the entire community.

Skylar's Restaurant; #380 Dike Rd, Bay Center, WA

The nautical themed windows caught my eye, on this house as we drove past it.

Pretty, little, white white roses amidst the weedy roadside bushes.

I spent many happy days in Bay Center when I was a teen; my stepfather John Emerson had also spent a great deal of time there - his mother Dicie had been raised there, and that's probably where she met John's father, Ralph. Ralph was Skagit Indian, and was a net fisherman all his life. When John and my mother were still married, we would annually drive to Bay Center from Cathlamet to visit his Grandma Peggy; I loved Grandma Peggy, and her little cottage house to the right, as we passed over the little bridge in the community.

Bay Center-WA from Cathlamet-WA; 59 min (51.6 mi) via WA-4 W and US-101 N

Bay Center-WA is a fishing community, and I noticed when I was there a couple years ago (less than 5), that there is now an Indian Tribal Office down by the circular turn around. Internet research surfing informed me that Bay Center is not a designated Indian reservation. While the Chinook Indian Nation is headquartered in Bay Center and has tribal members living there, they are an unrecognized tribe and do not have a formally recognized reservation. But I do know that The Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe in Tokeland-WA, is a federally recognized tribe with a reservation located along Willapa Bay near Raymond-WA.

There are 7 global bodies of water called oceans - I've spent the majority of my life to date, along the northern part of the Pacific Ocean; currently living in Ocean Park-WA, which is basically the tip of the North Pacific Peninsula. In September of this year, we will be setting pegs in Brookings-OR, the lower end of the North Pacific Ocean.

We honeymooned & lived portions of 2023, 2024, & 2025 along the Southwestern Pacific Ocean: my husband Holland, was born in Santa Cruz-CA - and surfed the waves of the coastal Southwestern Pacific Ocean there, in his younger years. It is a beautiful place, and I'm glad we visited there last year.

Though CA is geographically in the southwestern part of the country, is not considered part of the "down South" region of America.

The Pacific Ocean is the largest ocean in the world. It reaches from the West Coast of the United States to Asia and Australia. The USA states of Alaska (the largest American State, with Texas following after), Washington, Oregon, California, and Hawaii border the Pacific Ocean.

When we got back home, my eyes were so itchy and I was sneezing so hard, I gulped some Dayquil down my sore throat and went upstairs to lay down for about half an hour: Holland woke me up 3 hours later (!), and we ate a quickie Supper - last night's chicken & biscuits leftover for him & a chicken Cup-O-Soup for me. Then, he made a couple fruit smoothies … and I grated the lemon peel for my spice collection (I like to use the peel in a couple recipes).

Grated Lemon peel; for cooking.

It was an enjoyable Day & a nice, peaceful evening ❤️🕊️

 Today was a good Sunday~Funday Day.

Tonight will be a good night too, with a good world oceans read, featuring my favorite author bent on fun hijinks' and high adventure 😁

GREEN GRASS & HIGH TIDES; Long Beach-WA

September 14th: We enjoy our grassy space at Ocean Bay Mobile & RV Park (it's peaceful), and the Park hosts are very nice people, and friendly too … but we miss being parked next door to David on his beach lot :-(

We are still having drainage issues in the spare bathroom, so we need to be connected to this RV Park's drain system until that gets sorted out.

I was feeling pretty punky this morning, so I got up early so I wouldn't wake Holland with my tossing and turning: he doesn't sleep well, and was up until about 3 AM before he fell into bed.

I worked a while on another little preemie sleep sacque while listening to the continual rainfall, and drinking a couple cups of coffee I hoped would ease my sore throat.

Drizzle this morning, before Holland woke up …

Worked a bit on this boy's preemie sacque button band.

When Holland got up around 10 … I crept back to bed; leaving my crafting stuff all over the table. I couldn't have tidied up if I wanted to - I was that tired. The PNW rainy season puts me into a semi-hibernation mode. My stuffy head, sore throat, and sour stomach added to the drowsiness.

I had short bursts of wakefulness & tepid energy. I sleep off and on most of the day.

We had planned to go to the Garlic Festival - then on to Ilwaco to the Saturday Market, but that fell by the wayside because I was just too ditzy to do much of anything but sleep. Holland didn't mind - he's more of a homebody, than I am.

 

Holland had made a tuna salad while I was drifting in and out of Dreamland … and I wasn't sure my stomach would keep it down: but after I forced the first bite past my nose and down my throat, the following bites weren't so hard; and my stomach did not rebel. Punky or not, I need to keep my body nourished.

Today, last year, I was eating my first tuna steak … and canning fresh tuna to carry with us on our Road Gypsy adventures: SO delish! Though I have lived in the PNW since 1966, I'd never been treated to this PNW delicacy - Holland has, so he was excited when we canned 24 pints of tuna with David. We still have about 10 pints left, so we'll skip canning this year; but it will be a definite {thing} going forward. I'm hooked on the tasty treat, now.

********************

September 15th: This morning I woke up feeling much better: the headache was gone, and my stomach was calmer. 

I also liked the way Holland sleepily reached out with his long arm, and pulled me into his side, for a sleepy morning cuddle before I woke all the way up, and got up.

Holland followed a short while later - he wanted to check out the Garlic Festival (and hopefully grab some fresh garlic), and I was game … so, off we went. I had planned on doing this activity before Holland was part of my life, but doing it with him makes it more fun :-)

I'm back in the Land of the Living, today.

The Garlic Festival is a small affair … and pretty much like the Farmer's Market a few days ago: a lot of food stuffs, jewelry, and beach combing "art".

Festival Mascots …

We had to look hard to find any fresh garlic: we came home with 2 heads of garlic, and a handful of very small tomatoes because both were 'organically' ridiculously high priced … and a small box of spendy white fudge. I don't regret wasting the time, but I won't be going again.

The Outlaws - 'Green Grass and High Tides' song:  (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhiyKZsAW44)

On our way home, we turned down Bay Avenue in Ocean Park, to enjoy the Pacific Ocean at the Ocean Park Approach: Holland needs his daily water fix - and I'm finding that I look forward to enjoying it with him.

I don't think I've ever enjoyed spending time watching ocean waves, as I have - and do - enjoy a day at the beach with Holland. I love watching his senses come alive when he watches the waves :-)

I liked the kites … we had missed the Long Beach Kite Festival, due to Independence's repairs, so I was glad to see some of what had been shown. These pretty things are wildly expensive.

Fun beach approach; Ocean Park-WA

The 'sea chickens' were plentiful again, this afternoon; flocks of 'Heermann's Gulls'.

A black one! I wonder what it's labeled as … it's a 'first winter Heermann's Gull'.

Heermann's Gull - plummage & vocalization:  (https://ebird.org/species/heegul#:~:text=Almost%20exclusively%20coastal%3B%20usually%20seen,and%20British%20Columbia%20in%20winter.)

Large, loud, waves rolling in ;-)

A closer picture of the colorful kites.

A dinosaur, & an Orca is what drew my eye.

I don't know what the racoon-tailed black kite is supposed to represent …

Maybe some sort of fantasy stingray?

A h.u.g.e. Blue Whale had joined the kite dance on the breeze! The fells had it tethered to his truck's back bumper.

I am loving this stage & chapter of my New Life that my new husband is engaging me in ;-)

We spotted 5 Brown Pelicans - but I couldn't capture them in frame.

Brown Pelicans – Feeding Behaviors and Identification: 

(https://www.onthewingphotography.com/wings/2011/02/19/brown-pelicans/)

I finally {got} one ;-)

When I first saw today's brown pelicans, I thought they were eagles because from a distance the large brown bodies with white heads appeared to resemble eagles - but Holland said they were brown pelicans; and that excited me, more: I love the way pelicans in flight look like prehistoric pterosaurs (I admit to being a dino freak ;-)).

The first time I saw brown pelicans was in 2020, when I was enjoying one of my solo lobo Sunday out-of-house Daytrips. I was deliberately pushing myself out of my comfort zone, and forcing myself to deal with memories without breaking down in tears … and to create new memories by doing things Bob and I never did; it was important in my healing process of widowhood:

SUNDAY~FUNDAY #18 – Fort Columbia: 

https://jeastofeden.blogspot.com/2020/08/sundayfunday-18-fort-columbia.html

Since 2020, I've enjoyed several pelican sightings: brown, and white - we saw white pelicans on our way to Warrenton-OR, the other day, but there was no place to pull over and take pictures.

The weather started turning - so, we turned towards home under the dancing kites adding color to the darkening sky.

We stopped at Okie's Grocery Store on the way home and bought some fresh produce … and some interesting black grapes; I said to Holland that the way they hung down reminded me of little trumpet-shaped flowers ;-)

Royal Queen Purple Iochroma flower cluster.

When we got home, Holland put the kitchen cart I bought a few days ago, together, for me.

And we enjoyed some of the black grapes, too. They were sweet and tasty - not tart, like the little round old-fashioned black grapes I am used to, that used to grow up the porch pillars of my cousin Terri's Skamokawa house: I like those the best … but these long, tubular grapes, are enjoyable, too :-)

Holland put my kitchen cart together after we got back home …

A tidy place to add extra space in the small kitchen ;-)

A new kind of grape - neither of us have ever seen, or tried them; but they look interesting.

They have a little 'navel'; LOL

The largest one was 2-in long.

Black seedless grapes contain significant amounts of vitamins A, C, and K. Flavonoids within the grape’s skin, such as resveratrol, also provide antioxidant qualities which can help reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.

Today was a great day from start to finish.

Thank You, Yeshua: I am truly blessed.

THE DEPOT~Seaview-WA

May 2nd: I've been sleeping pretty much around the clock; asthma is seriously draining me :-(

So, this morning when Holland saw me looking out my window, he knew I was missing my Bible Study gal pals. He said, "How about we get you out of the house, and get some fresh air for you." I am so worn out from trying to stay alive … but, I agreed. I am sick and tired of being sick and tired; some fresh air sounded wonderful.

We originally drove down the road a bit to the Ocean Park Beach Approach - about 5 minutes from our front door, and Holland's favorite waves viewing spot ;-)

As we were getting into Betsy, I noticed busy bees flitting among the little white flowers I assumed to be ground daisies … they were wild alpine strawberries instead.

And I spied a heavily blooming Lilac, across the street.

Strawberries, out our front door!~Ocean Bay Mobile & RV Park; #2515 Bay Ave, Ocean Park, WA

Wild Strawberries of the PNW: 

(https://www.wnps.org/blog/wild-strawberries-of-pnw)

Lilacs blooming, across the street.

A calm ocean today; Ocean Park Access-WA; #1100 Bay Ave, Ocean Park, WA

The waves were so calm today.

That made me curious.

So, I asked Holland if we could drive to the Seaview Approach and see what the waves looked like there: to me, they seem to be wilder at that end of the beach.

There were surprises waiting for us there ;-)

A little wilder - but still mild; Seaview Approach-WA

What is that, on the beach; Seaview-WA

A dead baby whale; and people vultures were already picking it clean.

We noticed something on the beach - and people milling around; Holland said it was probably a beached whale: he was right. The stench lingered on the ocean winds, for miles up and down the beach: a salty, ocean-briny-rot odor. Very ripe.

Then he told me about a dead beached whale that had been blown up around Coos Bay-OR; seeing my raised eyebrows, he said, "Go research it. It really happened". And I burst out laughing at the sheer spectacle of flying whale fat.

But, nothing could have prepared me for the actual footage.

OMG

It really wasn't funny; it was actually pretty seriously dangerous for the spectators - but, I am still laughing.

Exploding Whale 50th Anniversary, Remastered!: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPuaSY0cMK8 & Exploding Whale; Florence-OR: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploding_whale)

Beach drive …

Beard's Hollow, in the distance.

A Bald-headed Eagle, and his mate.

And there, at that rocky point, is where my life nearly ended in the Summer of 1971.

My new POW stepfather swam out to retrieve me - he was chest deep in waves when he grabbed me, and seriously said, "If you struggle on the swim back, I will knock you out". The waves definitely were not safe, for either of us - and John wasn't being mean spirited: he said it very calmly. He knew I was uncomfortable in deep water, and I knew that if I panicked, both of us would have perished. I had been teenage stupid, and he would have been justified.

Seaview Approach-WA

As we left the beach behind, we spied The Depot Restaurant … and Holland nipped into their parking lot: he remembered the convo with locals the other day.

I noticed, as we pulled around the building to park, that The Depot has it's own chuck wagon … if the food is good today, I will be looking for it among the other's :-)

This is the only depot still in its original location; and it is currently operating as The Depot Restaurant, which celebrates local history by maintaining the building; and filling the interior with railroad murals, memorabilia, and life.

This is the only Clam Shell Railroad Depot still in its original location.

The Depot Restaurant, located at #1208 38th Pl, Seaview, WA

This historic 132 year old Train Depot feels like a French Café, with it's cozy interior and retro vibe.

Tables are set up very nicely; dry statice flowers, dried teasel stems, and evergreen sprigs.

The Depot's Margarita … (((NO!))) I did not like it at all :-(

Beautiful Wall Mural.

Ilwaco Railway and Navigation Company~Clamshell Railroad:

 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilwaco_Railway_and_Navigation_Company & https://www.chinookobserver.com/life/seaview-and-clamshell-railroad/article_4163f726-b522-5c23-a7b3-90a201f6887c.html)

Railway Poster.

The restaurant features a Display Kitchen, where you can watch your meal being prepared ;-)

The 'Clamshell' Engine, hung above our table.

Clamshell Railroad’s First Run Recalled:

 (https://www.chinookobserver.com/life/history/clamshell-railroad-s-first-run-recalled/article_1420f387-4a9c-5c48-96a2-8449fb7e93bd.html)

We both ordered the 'Tinker's Treasure' Burger with Tots; YUMMY! The burgers were fat and juicy-messy … but delicious; I wore my napkin as a shirt bib - and was glad I did ;-)

The food here is top cuisine, and the prices are reasonable.

The margarita was small compared to other places; on the steep side, and not very tasty; the large sized coke was priced right, & the burgers were reasonably priced.

The gourmet 'Tinker's Treasure' Burgers were a delight to the taste buds; made with a hefty beef patty, goat cheese, red onion, shallot, mushrooms, & baby greens - and a side of special house sauce with the tots.

I'm not going to lie: the total tally was spendy, but also worth every penny. The food was top-hat, the service was attentive … and informative. We learned a lot about the place, the ownership, and other local places to explore and enjoy ;-)

This was very good restaurant meal at a reasonable price when you consider that you will be forking out $21 for a Subway sandwich! NO

And $30 is the predicted price for a Hamburger at a fast food place! NO

Thank you, Husband, for a Day Out; thank you for treating me to a spoiling day, even when I look a fright & feel out of sorts ;-)

This trip back to WA, we've tried most of the food offerings, from Seaview to Long Beach.

We plan on checking this out too, at some point - it's literally 5 minutes away.

Today was a good Day, spent with my loving Husband; next Thursday though, I hope to be with the girls in Rosburg.

Holland understands - and is supportive.